Yale graduate transfer Jordan Bruner is the fourth player to commit to Alabama in the last three weeks, following pledges from Josh Primo, Keon Ellis and Darius Miles. They make up the latest additions to a 5-member 2020 recruiting class.

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Yale graduate transfer Jordan Bruner announced his commitment to Alabama through a video posted on Instagram on Friday. He becomes the fifth member of the Crimson Tide's 2020 recruiting class. (Screenshot by Alex Byington/Montgomery Advertiser)(Photo: Courtesy of Jordan Bruner's Instagram)

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama men’s basketball entered the offseason on a two-game losing streak to end the regular season.

But since then, second-year head coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide staff have been on a recruiting tear — one that seems to have hit its crescendo Friday.

With signing day just five days away, Yale graduate transfer Jordan Bruner became the fifth player to pledge to what Oats is creating at Alabama when he verbally committed to the Tide on Friday — the fourth commitment in the last 15 days — with a video posted to his Instagram account. Bruner chose Alabama over fellow finalists Baylor and Maryland.

“I’m wired to prove people wrong,” Bruner told family friend Tyler DeLuca, who has broken most of the news surrounding Bruner’s recruitment. “A lot of people think Alabama is the worst team out of the three, but I believe in myself, my new teammates and Coach Oats’ vision. We’re going to be one of the best teams in the country.”

Yale's Jordan Bruner dunks the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game for the Ivy League championship against Harvard at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., Sunday, March 17, 2019, in New Haven, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)(Photo: The Associated Press)

Bruner, a 6-foot-9 small forward from South Carolina who averaged 10.9 points and 9.2 rebounds as a first-team All-Ivy League player last season, seemingly caps off a three-week roll that has also included commitments from dynamic four-star guard Josh Primo of Canada, top-rated junior college guard Keon Ellis of Florida SouthWestern State and three-star small forward Darius Miles of IMG Academy. The fifth member of the Tide’s 2020 class is four-star power forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton, who signed with the Crimson Tide in November.

Miles, a 6-7 stretch wing from Washington, D.C., committed on Tuesday, while Ellis, a 6-6 combo guard from South Florida, pledged last Sunday. Primo, another long guard who made his mark playing for Team Canada last offseason, committed on March 27 to start three-week run for Alabama.

During a conference call with reporters last month, Oats hinted that the team would be active on the recruiting circuit this offseason following a difficult and inconsistent first season (16-15, 8-10 SEC) at the helm.

“I think (the roster is) going to look significantly different,” Oats said during a March 24 conference call with local reporters. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting our roster to look a lot more like we want it to look like, with more big guards, more guys that are skilled, with some size on the perimeter that can play. … I’m not happy with where we are. They didn’t bring us in here to go 16-15, we had that discussion with some players after the year.”

Since then, Alabama has seemingly overhauled its roster in the month before the late signing period to quickly climb the national recruiting rankings, rising to No. 15 nationally prior to Bruner’s pledge Friday.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats directs his players in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Vanderbilt Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Alabama won 77-62. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)(Photo: Mark Humphrey, AP)

The Crimson Tide entered the offseason with just one roster spot to fill with graduate guard James “Beetle” Bolden as the only senior last season. That doubled to two when redshirt freshman forward Raymond Hawkins entered the transfer portal on March 13. Two weeks later, two became five when three starters — sophomore point guard Kira Lewis Jr. and junior wings Herbert Jones and John Petty Jr. — formally announced their intentions to enter the NBA draft with the option to potentially return depending on what sort of feedback they receive.

And despite the reality that should all three NBA draft hopefuls return — which isn’t likely with Lewis widely projected to be a first-round pick — it would create a roster logjam that would admittedly require some difficult conversations with other players, Oats hasn’t been deterred in his mission to reload with players that fit his up-tempo system.

“We want more guys that can pass, dribble and shoot all over the floor. We want more bigs that can shoot — pass, dribble and shoot, to be honest with you,” Oats said. “So, we’re looking at every possible angle there is. We’re talking to high school kids that we’ve been tracking for a while. We’re talking to JUCO guys that we’ve been tracking for a while. We’re talking to transfers that have just become available here in the last week or two. We’re looking at all of it.”